


I've Got You

by RosemarysBabysitter (TashaElizabeth)



Series: Goretober Prompts [21]
Category: World Wrestling Entertainment
Genre: M/M, Tattoos
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-10
Updated: 2017-11-10
Packaged: 2019-01-31 15:48:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 632
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12684972
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TashaElizabeth/pseuds/RosemarysBabysitter
Summary: Corey gives Tom something to remember him by. Goretober Prompt: Under the Skin





	I've Got You

“I’m starting to think this isn’t such a good idea,” Tom said, swallowing over the sound of his voice breaking. He was slightly muffled, his face pressed against the back of the padded reclining chair. 

“Shut up, Phillips.” Corey was carefully shaving the fine hair from a section of Tom’s back, cleaning the newly revealed skin with rubbing alcohol. “I know exactly what I’m doing here.”

There was something in the way Corey emphasized ‘exactly’ that made Tom a little nervous. Corey, as much as he liked to pretend otherwise, rarely seemed have exact information about anything. He shifted his weight a little and Corey huffed in annoyance.

“Put your hands over the top of the chair and don’t move.”

Happy to get a direct order like that, Tom complied. The vinyl of the chair made his sweaty palms more obvious, but he stilled, shut his eyes. Through the door he could hear the murmured sounds of the rest of the shop, a heavy bassline being played in the next room. 

Corey put the razor and alcohol wipe away, spinning the low stool to snap on a fresh pair of gloves and prepare his supplies. Ink in ink caps. Vaseline at hand. Small plastic bags open and needles selected and inserted. Tom could peek at Corey in the gap under his arm and see everything. Corey looked focused and alert. He started the machine.

Tom realized he had been expecting something more like a dentist’s drill and was surprised by the softer clatter as the needle began to vibrate.

“First line,” Corey said, pulling the stool close to him. He put one gloved hand on Tom’s lower back. 

“What’s it going to feel like?” Tom blurted and he saw Corey sigh.

“I don’t know. Not good. It depends on the person. It might just itch, it might feel like its burning.”

“I don’t…”

“Whatever it is, you can take it.” Corey spoke without an ounce of hesitation. Tom smiled a little against the seat back, not sure if that was a compliment.

“Okay,” he said.

“Okay,” Corey said. “First line.”

The design turned out to only be a handful of lines. Tom felt the curves, crescent moon shapes which crawled along his skin. He tried to sort out their shape from the pain, but as soon as the needle was applied, he lost some part of the pattern and squinted his eyes shut to focus on his breath.

It didn’t itch and it didn’t feel like burning. It felt like Corey was scratching him, digging his fingernails into the meat of Tom’s back. Tom was familiar with the sensation. There were memories playing against his eyelids, dark nights and whispered commands and other times he’d taken all the pain Corey had given him.

“There,” Corey said, putting down the gun and rubbing a cloth over the area. The pain changed tone under the pressure of his hand and Tom hissed, pushing himself up off the chair.

“Do I get to see it now?” he asked. His head was buzzing as he sat up.

“Not till it’s healed. Anyway, it's not for you. It’s for me. I’m the one who has to look at you.” He tugged Tom back into a sitting position and began to cover the bright spot of pain with cloth and tape. Tom breathed heavily out.

“Return to sender?” Tom joked.

“If lost, please return to…” Corey tore the last bit of tape from the roll, then handed Tom his shirt off the floor. Tom laughed out loud. Maybe it was. That first stroke, the one that had hurt with shock and brilliance, it was curved, it could have been a C. And that last line, which dragged on forever, maybe the flourish at the end of a Y.


End file.
